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Nail salons are very much back in the news this past month with many people reporting fatal or near fatal infections from improperly santized pedicure baths in salons. I know I can really tend to harp on this, because infection has affected my life so dramatically over the last year and a half. The dear friend of Kimberley Jackson, the Dallas woman who suffered and died from her salon acquired infection left a comment on my MRSA blog that you might find interesting. Every day I am seeing articles about nail salon infections, and you really need to be more aware than ever the importance of sanitation. I would like to encourage you again to toss the plumbed pedicure baths, and use only a plain, non-plumbed bath until effective ways to disinfect plumbing are found. I know how expensive those plumbed tubs are/were, but the costs associated with using them at this time far outweigh the costs of their purchase.  This article was published today in the Clarion-Ledger warning salon customers to have a watchful eye (which they should):

“Customers should be looking and seeing if technicians are sanitizing their implements between customers and if you are not sure, ask,” Cefalu recommends.

“If you are getting a pedicure in one of the foot spas, they should be cleaning it between each customer,” she adds.

Jolley says she just assumed her new technician sanitized because her old one did.

One of the best tips I can offer here is not only to make sure you are santizing properly, even going over and above your state/country regulations, but to do it directly in front of the client, so they will be doubly assured that you are not going to give them an infection. Talk about sanitation to your client, stress the importance of it, and you will not only gain the trust of your clients, but as they talk about the danger of salon infections to their friends and families, your name will come up as a person who is interested in their health and wellbeing, and this will pay off in the end.